George Charrette

George Charrette
Born (1867-06-06)June 6, 1867
Lowell, Massachusetts
Died February 7, 1938(1938-02-07) (aged 70)
Lowell, Massachusetts
Buried at Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance  United States of America
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1884–1925
Rank Lieutenant
Battles/wars Spanish–American War
Awards Medal of Honor

George Charrette (June 6, 1867 – February 7, 1938) was an enlisted man and later officer in the United States Navy who received the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Spanish–American War.

Biography

Charrette was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on June 6, 1867. He enlisted in the United States Navy September 24, 1884. As a Gunner's Mate third class, on June 2, 1898, he volunteered with seven others to sink USS Merrimac under heavy Spanish fire across the entrance to the harbor of Santiago, Cuba, thus bottling up the enemy fleet. Taken prisoner by the Spanish, Charrette was exchanged July 6, 1898. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism, although his name was misspelled as "George Charette" on the citation. Charrette was commissioned lieutenant on August 3, 1920, and retired from the Navy in 1925. He died February 7, 1938 in Lowell, Massachusetts and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Virginia.

Namesake

In 1943, the destroyer USS Charrette (DD-581) was named in his honor.

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.